->'''Bodie:''' How are you going to play it?->'''Doyle:''' Urrrh...drunk!-->-- ''Series/TheProfessionals''

Simply put, a character fakes being drunk. This is often a way of achieving ObfuscatingStupidity.

Variants: The person's pretending to be high. They may even be a ''tad'' buzzed[=/=]high to complete the effect.

Compare FakeHigh, where the character thinks they're drunk or high when they're not. MistakenForJunkie is a related trope where someone is incorrectly thought to be on drugs.----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', [[spoiler: Matsuda, after being caught by Yotsuba, pretends to be drunk so he can fake his death via falling.]]* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', Stein pretends to be drunk to trap Medusa. Unfortunatly even though he gets her to admit she's a witch, he's too late to stop her putting her plan into action.* Zoro and Nami do this in ''Manga/OnePiece'' during Whisky Peak. Nami also used it frequently as a tactic for her pirate robbing prior to becoming a Straw Hat.* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. It's hard to determine at any time just how much of Vash the Stampede's apparent drunkenness is honest and how much is the trope. While at times he shown to be so plastered as to be unable to maintain his ObfuscatingStupidity, at other times he's been able to snap sober in a blink.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] does this as part of his [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob public persona]]. Most people don't realize that the drinks in his glass are either [[FrothyMugsOfWater non-alcoholic beverages that look like alcoholic ones to a casual glance]] (When he's drinking at home) or [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal poured into the nearest potted plant]] (when he's drinking elsewhere).* In ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', Rick has Glenn do this to [[spoiler:help him steal back the weapons the group had to put in storage when they arrived in Alexandria.]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]* Done by George to good advantage in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''; he's pretending to be drunk and defeated so [[spoiler: Brox and Co.]] don't take him seriously, but he's actually gathering information on the house where John is imprisoned so he can figure out how to rescue him. Later, when he does come up with a plan, he keeps up the drunk act so he can have an excuse to talk his way past the guards (who are admittedly sympathetic to him and John) and climb onto the roof.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop''. While in the bar, Axel Foley pretends to be drunk to make an armed robber think he's harmless and get close enough to take him out.* ''Film/TheFugitive'' (1993). While Gerard and Newman are approaching the house with one of the escapees inside, they pretend to be drunks. Gerard even says "Be drunk, Newman."* ''Film/TheSting''. Henry Gondorff pretends to be drunk to justify acting offensively toward Doyle Lonnegan. To enhance his act he gargles with gin to get alcohol-laden breath and brings along a gin bottle full of water to drink from.* Bruce Wayne does this in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', he fakes being drunk as an excuse to insult all of his party guests and shoo them out of his house (thus preventing them getting killed). When Wayne Manor is torched in the ensuing battle, the next day the papers read: [[HeroWithBadPublicity Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Home]].* ''Film/{{Beerfest}}'': "We're not that drunk."* In ''Film/{{Grownups 2}}'', Lenny Eeic Kurt and Marcus pretend to get drunk to hang out with a frat gang.* In ''Film/DownPeriscope'', the entire crew of a submarine (minus the sole woman) pretends to be a boatload of drunk fishermen to fool the other side during a war game, singing "Louie Louie" at the top of their lungs and as far from the proper key as they can manage.* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' - Marian, who can drink a huge Himalayan under the table, plays drunk with Belloq long enough to (try to) make a break for it.* In ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'', Creator/BradPitt's character pretends to be drunk and wanders into a room full of targets, asking for a round of poker. He sits down and plays cards with them, tricking them into letting their guards down and eventually shooting them all to death. He then checks the other players' cards and collects his "winnings".* Pitt also plays drunk in ''Film/SpyGame'' (complete with VomitIndiscretionShot) to throw suspicion off him and the asset he's trying to get across the border ([[spoiler:or so he thinks]]).* Lucy of ''Film/TheAwfulTruth'' uses this as part of a plot to embarrass her husband in front of his prospective in-laws.* ''Film/{{Colombiana}}''. The DynamicEntry of the protagonist as an adult ProfessionalKiller involves her ramming into a police car, stumbling out along with a couple of bottles, then getting cuffed and thrown into a holding cell to sleep it off when she threatens to throw up. Turns out this is a GetIntoJailFree ploy to gain access to her target.* ''Film/TheFourthProtocol''. Creator/MichaelCaine's character pretends to turn up at a New Year's Eve party drunk to gain access to the building, so he can do a black bag job on one of the flats.* ''Film/The47Ronin'': Kuranosuke does this when some visitors arrive, the first trying to convince him to work for the shogun and the next two demanding he immediately go to war against Kira. He immediately drops the pretense when his son is about to leave to go make war on Kira as well, explaining to his son that everything he's doing is part of his plan for revenge against Kira.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* [[spoiler:Dolphus Raymond]] from ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''. He pretends to be a drunk so he doesn't suffer backlash from the fact he's in love with a black girl (and fathered a mulatto).* The title character of the ''Literature/AgentPendergast'' books often mimics being high or drunk to blend in with criminals, or repel ordinary people from suspecting him.* In the SherlockHolmes novel ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'', the murderer returns to the scene of the crime to retrieve an item he left behind, and finds that the police are on the scene, so he pretends to be merely a drunk passerby. (Holmes, hearing about it later, immediately realises the deception from the policeman's description of the "drunk" man's mannerisms.)* In ''GoneWithTheWind'', Rhett Butler, Ashley Wilkes, and Dr. Meade fake being drunk in order to disguise the fact that Ashley has been shot while engaged in an act of vigilantism against the men who attacked Scarlett O'Hara Kennedy.* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novels:** In ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', the murderer leaves a bottle of whisky in reformed alcoholic Sam Vimes's desk, then contacts various "respected citizens" with the news he's drunk. When they arrive, it initially appears that it's worked; the place stinks of alcohol and Vimes is slumped over his desk. Actually, Vimes just wants to see who turns up and how they react.--->'''Vimes''': When we find the man responsible, somewhere at the top of the charge sheet is going to be Forcing Commander Vimes To Tip a Whole Bottle of Single Malt On The Carpet. That's a hanging offence.** Inverted in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals''. After drinking enough beer to incapacitate some of the toughest foot-the-ball captains in Ankh-Morpork, Vetinari ''is'' drunk. He's just very good at acting like he ''isn't.''* In one of the ''Literature/BloodyJack'' books, Jacky Faber and one of her female friends fake being drunk in order to fool some guards into drinking some opium-laced liquor. Once the guards are out, they sabotage the cannons that the guards are supposed to be guarding, which ensures their safe escape.* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', Kevin Usher did this regularly in the days of the Committee of Public Safety. He held that a reputation for being a drunk could get you out of as much trouble as genuinely being a drunk can get you into.* In the Creator/MichaelCrichton book ''Literature/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' (loosely based on an true story), [[TheChessmaster Edward Pierce]] wanders by acting like a drunken lout to distract a guard outside a railway office, allowing his accomplice to get in long enough to duplicate a key.* In ''[[Literature/BelisariusSeries An Oblique Approach]]'', part of the plan of Belisarius involves playing at being a drunken sot to fool Lord Venandakatra into thinking he was going to corrupt the general into the Malwa Empire's plans to conquer the world. To himself, Belisarius scornfully thinks that because of his country boy youth, he could have drunken Venandakatra under the table at the age of ten.* Will Herondale in ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'', [[spoiler:Jem says it's to make himself look bad. It is revealed in ''The Clockwork Prince'' [[CartwrightCurse why]].]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]* In ''Series/TheAmericans'', Philip and Elizabeth attack an Israeli operative and are dragging him away when they're stopped by a cop. They claim they're just escorting their too-drunk friend home. The Israeli, not wanting to make a bad situation even worse, plays along by slurring through a few bars of Kenny Rogers's "The Gambler" along with a nearby jukebox.* The first episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' opens with the title character apparently drunk at a bar, pouring his broken heart out at the bartender. Moments later it turns out he's just faking it and keeping an eye on a group of vampires; as they leave the bar with a couple of unassuming victims, he immediately turns from a blabbering drunk into a smooth dark hero and proceeds to kick ass.* Alistair feigns drunkenness in ''Series/AsTimeGoesBy'' in the episode where everyone tries to surprise Jean with a trip to Barbados. It's all a bit involved.* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': In a flashback, Mike pretends to be drunk as part of a complex BatmanGambit to [[spoiler:kill the two {{Dirty Cop}}s who killed his son. Mike drunkenly accuses them of the murder of his son while they were in the bar, then continues to act drunk so that they will "helpfully" offer to drive him home as part of ''their'' plan to drive to a secluded area to execute him. Unbeknownst to them, the episode had earlier shown Mike breaking into their patrol car and stashing a gun in the seats, allowing him to kill them both after they had already taken care of getting away from bystanders and witnesses]].* In an episode of ''Series/BlakesSeven '', Vila pretends to be drunk so he can make a suggestion on how to fix the current problem (atmosphere leaking out of a hole in the hull) in the form of a rambling remeniscence, but not be called on to undertake the repair himself (because you couldn't give such a dangerous task to someone who was obviously drunk).* In ''Series/BurnNotice'', Michael points out that appearing to be drunk is a very effective tool for numerous different types of operations. Once, when he needs to be seen ''getting'' drunk instead of just showing up already-drunk, he explains the three simple steps he uses to make it seem like he is drinking more than he is: 1) Order drinks with lots of ice, lowering the total amount of alcohol present. 2) Order refills before you have finished your drink. 3) Spill.* ''Series/{{Chicago PD}}'' often employs this, using one of their cops to pretend to be high in order to get into a drug dealer's place.* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': In the episode "Chuck vs the Balcony", Sarah plays drunk to knock out a couple of mooks in a wine cellar.* ''Series/{{Community}}'' [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] this trope in an episode where Jeff Winger's lame attempts to play drunk quickly give way to his being genuinely very drunk thanks to Abed's EnforcedMethodActing.* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace "The Girl In The Fireplace"]], complete with NecktieHeadband.-->"Have you met the French? My ''GOD'' they know how to party!"* ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Possibly Tyrion Lannister during his wedding; it's difficult to tell as he's [[DrowningMySorrows quite drunk already]] but after Tyrion threatens to cut King Joffrey's balls off, his father Lord Tywin calls attention to his drunkeness as a JustJokingJustification. Tyrion agrees, then grabs his newly-wed and staggers off, crashing into various bits of furniture and talking loudly of how he once [[TooMuchInformation threw up on a girl during sex]].* In an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'', Max has to pretend to be an alcoholic. He is issued a pill to keep under his tongue that absorbs all the alcohol he drinks. As he puts it, "I'll look drunk, act drunk, even ''smell'' drunk, but I'll be stone sober!" Then he accidentally swallows the pill, causing all the alcohol it absorbed to be introduced into his system at once.* In ''Series/{{Graceland}}'', the federal agents often have to pretend to use drugs in order to convince criminals that they are not cops. The episode "O-Mouth" is named after Johnny's criticism of Charlie's technique at playing high.* Claire Bennet from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has NighInvulnerability, which extends to her liver. In one scene she is in a DrinkingContest, and wins because she was only pretending that the drink was affecting her. Although she did wait until her father Nathan had gotten completely blitzed on tequila in the ''first'' drinking contest of the episode before stepping up. Swell kid you got there.* In one episode of ''Series/{{House}},'' the title character does this to try and break up the relationship between Cuddy and her boyfriend.* ''Series/{{How I Met Your Mother}}'': Barney's father Jerome pretends to be drunk to get back at Barney for trying to get him to be his crazy old self again.* ''Series/{{Hunter}}'': When [=DeeDee McCall=] investigates the trailer of a suspected cop killer parked next to a bar, he comes back earlier than expected so she acts like a drunken patron who just stumbled into the wrong place.* In an episode of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'', Ilya harasses a girl while pretending to be drunk so that Napoleon Solo can step in and rescue her.* The killer in one episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' picked a fight while pretending to be drunk so as to attract paparazzi attention, which would then give him an alibi for the murder he was going to commit.* Jessica Fletcher did this once on ''Series/MurderSheWrote''.* In ''Series/PeepShow'', Mark tries to fake an ecstasy high after being given a pill that he doesn't want to take. HilarityEnsues.* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "The Female Factor", Doyle pretends to be drunk when visiting a high class call girl in order to draw out her pimp, whom [=CI5=] wishes to interrogate.* Sherlock Holmes pretends to be completely drunk in the unaired pilot "A Study in Pink" of the BBC series ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' in order to approach the murderer.* Sam Winchester of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' does this in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" to hustle pool.* In ''Series/VeronicaMars'', Veronica walks into a poker game, picks up a half-empty bottle that the clearly inebriated Duncan has been drinking from all night, and drains it in a single gulp. It was iced tea, and he was faking drunkenness as part of his poker strategy.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]* Contrary to popular opinion, the lyric "What's in this drink?" in "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is an invocation of this trope. At the time of the song's publication, that line was a stock joke in sitcoms- the punchline being that nothing, not even much alcohol, was in the drink. It aligns with other excuses the singers suggest using (that the weather is dangerous, that there are no cabs running, etc) so that the female singer can...stay the night...at a man's house. Contemporary listeners often interpret this lyric as a mention of date rape.-->"I ought to say no, no, no... (...) At least I'm gonna say that I tried..."[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]* The trope came into play during the JakeRoberts vs. JerryLawler feud of 1996. Background: Roberts returned to the World Wrestling Federation in 1996, using a reformed Christian persona who has quit the bottle, playing off his real-life experiences. Lawler – then a shameless heel – played on Roberts' past, claiming that he was a "drunk" and was appearing at wrestling events under the influence. On an episode of ''WWF Monday Night RAW'', Lawler cut a mean-spirited promo in the ring mocking Roberts and alcoholics in general, when an "intoxicated" Roberts staggered to the ring with a whiskey bottle; however, the crowd – and Lawler, immediately after getting sucker-kicked and DDT'ed – quickly realized it was a ruse to catch Lawler off guard and give him his comeuppance. (Roberts then poured whiskey in Lawler's face to further embarass him.)[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module T1 ''The Village of Hommlet''. Elmo the ranger acts inebriated, but is only pretending in order to get other people to underestimate him.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]* In ''Theatre/TheDesperateHours'' the protagonist pretends to be drunk and abusive to make his son's schoolteacher leave, to hide the fact that three wanted fugitives are keeping them hostage (and had left liquor bottles lying around).* The Count in ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville'' pretends to be a drunken soldier as part of his ZanyScheme to marry Rosina.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', the [[TheSpymaster Spymaster]] of the Blades in Morrowind and the primary QuestGiver for the first act of the main quest, Caius Cosades, is doing this along with ObfuscatingStupidity and [[ObfuscatingInsanity Insanity]] as part of his cover identity as a poor, senile [[FantasticDrug Skooma addict]]. Given that he is: a) the Imperial Spymaster, b) said to hold his "liquor" fairly well, and c) implied to have killed people who have underestimated him, it can be assumed it is an act.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]* Kiel'ndia from ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1376 gets directly told she's baked]] on [[AlienCatnip chocolate]] after she gets caught somewhere she shouldn't be and plays along. It works in part because even sober that's just [[CloudCuckooLander how Kiel acts]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]* ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC''. At first the Green Goblin really is on a drug trip, but when it wears off he has to fake it.-->Jeez, you'd have to be on drugs to be this high![[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E06EmpireDay "Empire Day"]] Kanan plays drunk [[WeNeedADistraction in order to distract a stormtrooper]] during a parade that the gang is about to crash. Ezra gets the assist by claiming that Kanan is his dad and is just overexcited.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]* This was one of the tactics used by the MIT Blackjack Club to avoid attracting attention. Sure the drunken wash-out is winning tonight, but there's no way he could be counting cards, right? Of course, eventually the casinos caught onto the scam.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]* That famous joke (or urban legend, or story, or whatever) about the cop watching a bar who spots an obviously-drunk guy getting into a car, pulls him over, and finds out he's totally sober- it turns out it was his turn to be the decoy.** A variant exists where the guy shows every sign of being drunk as a skunk, but every breathalyzer they pull on him turns up completely clean. Eventually they figure out he's not drunk, he's on drugs.[[/folder]]